Hey guys, Sharp-O back once again with some more LEGO as I give my thoughts on the latest Mighty Micros for two of DC Comics’ most well-known characters!

I have gone on record numerous times on this website that I have a problem with how Warner Brothers portrays their super heroes and how they’re handling their franchise. There is a reek of desperation about their need to catch up with Marvel’s success but you can’t fast-track what Marvel have accomplished. Especially with the gloomy movies DC have been making.

Zack Snyder is directing again so I’m not thrilled going in to this but the cast is pretty great with Affleck and Gadot returning along with the debuts of Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, and Ray Fisher.

– Aquaman

Jason Momoa is cool as balls and I don’t understand why he doesn’t get more work. I hear he can be difficult on set, and that’s fair enough, but I think it’s a good trade off.

This scene is silly. Like, King Tide? He’s says that like it’s a thing. And isn’t it kinda messed up if Aquaman is delivering his buddies to be eaten every winter? Wouldn’t he be against eating fish? I don’t know.

– Wonder Woman

Once again, she doesn’t get to feature much in a trailer (although I suppose having her own makes up for that) but her interaction here is fun and a nice breath of fresh air considering what BvS was like.

– The Flash

What’s this? A happy person in a Warner Bros super hero movie? Surely it can not be! Ezra Miller is a pretty cool actor and often goes intense/weird with his performances so it should be interesting to see what he does with this.

I’m slightly confused why the lightning effects are necessary when he literally just steps out of the way. I understand they are part of his power but I always thought they were a result of him moving so fast and building up so much friction and static electricity.

Also, why is Bruce using his Batman voice out of the suit? That seems unnecessary.

– Cyborg

Blink and you’ll miss him. Cyborg almost takes on The Flash’s abilities he’s so quick to disappear in this trailer.

I understand he’s not as big a name as the other guys but still… it’s glaring how little they care about him. Who is he? What are his powers? We hear both about Aquaman and Flash, why not Cyborg? #WhyNotCyborg

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Overall: It’s nice that they had a more upbeat feel to the trailer but at the end of the day, I don’t know who or what they’re fighting and I don’t know anything of the plot other than Bruce Wayne is trying to find friends. That trailer was a bit of fun but it didn’t really sell me on anything.

Companies attending SDCC to peddle their wares often have a whole host of exclusive goodies to give away or to sell you and since I’m not in any position to attend, I thought I’d give my thoughts on a few items that I’d love to own personally. First up; DOMO-KUUUUUUUN!

Funko Booth #5343 – Metallic Domo Batman
Funko is always on hand to peddle more variant vinyls than you can shake a stick at, this year alone has so many that I’ve lost count. Has to be around 50-60 at least but this one caught my eye for a number of reasons. Firstly, Domo, because Domo is always funny and because it’s Domo dressed as Batman. SOLD. With numerous Pop Vinyls from TV, Movies, Comics and Pop Culture, I’m sure you’ll find one to tickle your particular fancy.

Bluefin Tamashii Nations Booth 3545 – S.H. Figuarts Power Rangers Samurai Metallic Figure Set
Boy, that’s a mouthful. I love S.H. Figuarts (despite not owning any) for their articulation, generous accesories and overall aesthetic. This set includes complete team of Rangers (many of whom had never seen a regular retail release in the US), with all their extras and accesories from their respective single releases and in a shiny Metallic paint? How can you pass up such a great set of figures for the sum of $200. It may seem steep but importing the regular female Rangers can command that price alone sometimes so it’s a damn good deal!

Hasbro Booth 3329 – Marvel Universe Deadpool Corps Special Edition Figure Set
Deadpool is big, tacos are delicious and exclusives are awesome. Throw them all together and you have a 6-‘Pool team of figures in exclusive taco-shaped packaging and a lovely Mexican food truck box to keep them in. Granted this is an extremely silly exclusive set for the sum of $49.99 but that’s why I love it so! Chimichangas!

LEGO Booth 2829 – Marvel and DC Superheroes Minifigures
Did you really expect anything less from me? LEGO released a bunch last year and this year they have 4 more to giveaway over the course of the event. Green Arrow takes cues from his TV appearance, Spiderman is chockful of lovely detail and Spiderwoman is a neat, relatively obscure, Avenger to throw into the group. The only misfire is black-suit Superman which appears to be the exclusive du jour this year because of Man of Steel but ends up looking dull compared to his more colourful comrades. Anyone who sends me an Arrow, Spidey or Spiderwoman wins my undying affection and a super-special-awesome shout out in a video!

Bluefin Distribution Booth 140 – Dragonball Z Exclusive 3 Piece Scouter Set
Do I need to explain why I need this? DBZ was a huge part of my first exposure to anime and DBZ Abridged is my favourite comedy series on YouTube so why do I want one of these awesome Scouters? Muffin Button. Also because they’re $25 and come in 3 different colours. They’re very limited so if you’re lucky enough to nab one, be aware that I am super jealous.

So that’s what I would conceivabley be spending my money on at SDCC, how about you? Any of you attending or not, what would you love to get and what leaves you cold inside?

Reviews of AQUAMAN VOL. 1: THE TRENCH and TEEN TITANS VOL. 1: IT’S OUR RIGHT TO FIGHT

The New 52 marches on with the release of two new revamped series. First, the long-mocked defender of the deep and King of Atlantis faces a horde of sharp-toothed wrenches from the briny depths. Then, N.O.W.H.E.R.E.’s hunting down teenage metahumans. Why? None can say, but Red Robin and his comrades rise to the occasion and the superpowered teenyboppers fight back.

Aquaman Vol. 1: The Trench

Whoo, boy, does Geoff Johns love writing generic white guys.

Between reviving Hal Jordan and Barry Allen, two characters who, while not originating their roles, certainly dominate public consciousness when anyone thinks Flash or Green Lantern, Johns has fallen into a slump of writing for your archetypal straightlaced male, whiter than the driven snow with the most blasé or typical of backstories. So it seems a natural move for Johns to write Arthur Curry, alias Aquaman, the half-Atlantean king of Atlantis. He’s blonde, he’s white, he’s blander than mayonnaise on white bread, and, hey! he even has daddy issues! After all, Johns has created some fantastic storylines using characters that initially died more or less because readers’ interest in their bland as paste personalities bottomed out. He takes the bland and makes it interesting. The same seemed to be coming true for Aquaman, so Johns seems a perfect match to pull Arty out of his slump and build an epic storyline for one of DC’s most underrated and underappreciated of heroes.

Of course, that wasn’t always the case. Indeed, many writers made the most of Aquaman’s badass potential, epitomized in the be-mulleted, hook-handed era of the character which ultimately made it to the Justice League animated series. This is a guy who can command great white goddamn sharks, krakens, and orcas for pity’s sake! Not to mention he’s the king of an entire underwater kingdom and has one of the greatest archenemies ever in Black Manta.

But, sad as it may be, Aquaman will never live down the legacy of Super Friends, the Hanna-Barbera produced cartoon which brought the Justice League of America to life and singlehanded proved Aquaman is the most useless superhero ever. Riding around on a giant seahorse, talking to fish through concentric circles, completely useless if separated from the sea and ocean life.

New 52 Aquaman operates under the assumption that both readers and the fictional public in-universe are only familiar with Aquaman via the Super Friends television series or, in fictional context, a reputation that amounts to such. In the first issue, Johns sets about dispelling several myths about the character. No, he doesn’t “talk” to fish, he commands them. Call him weak, he’ll flip an armored car over his head. No one’s “favorite superhero”? Since when have adulations meant anything to a true hero? Indeed, Johns goes out of his way to demonstrate how and why Aquaman is such a badass, leading one to wonder how he gained such a lackluster reputation in the New 52 universe if his actual actions in no way reflect his real life Super Friends reputation. But that bit of inconsistently swiftly gets shoved away as terrors emerge from the deep to combat Aquaman…

The book opens strongly with Aquaman thwarting a robbery in a small east coast town, surprising robbers and police alike with his unexpected feats of strength. We learn that this is Arthur Curry’s hometown, the place where his father raised him, long before he discovered his Atlantean roots and superpowers. Seeking to reconnect with his roots, Arthur takes up residence at the town’s lighthouse with his Atlantean bride Mera (their child and the majority of their history seemingly retconned out of existence). Meanwhile, strange humanoid creatures emerge from a deep water trench, their alien language speaking only of hunger and food. They fall upon a fishing vessel before, devouring its crew while marking others with bile, soon setting their sights on the sleepy seaside village where Aquaman has made his home.

Sound interesting? I would think so, too, but, sadly, the book is undone by its greatest weakness: Aquaman himself.

While Johns manages a few jokes at the expense of Aquaman’s Super Friends rep in the first issue, subsequent issues fail to establish any sort of personality for the guy. We get frequent flashbacks to his father — and a rather forced dream sequence of his father’s ghost taunting him about his origins and duty (the dialogue here causing physical pain) — but, beyond that, there’s dangerously little character belying the king of Atlantis. He’s supposed to be torn between his landed humanity and his Atlantean side beneath the sea, but we never see this struggle. Aquaman at one point seeks out the assistance of a man who once tried to kill him but, again, we never see this conflict. Rather, it’s told to us in dialogue and narration and the events that follow barely reflect these dramatic circumstances.

Moreover, Arthur’s interactions with people — police, local townspeople, etc. — feel stilted and awkward and it’s not quite clear how much of that awkwardness is intentional and how much of it is Johns’ inability to correctly convey stoicism. This doesn’t feel like the same character from Justice League. This doesn’t feel like the guy who summoned a horde of sharks to devour parademons mid air just to put Green Lantern in his place. This feels like some socially awkward weirdo (with an inexplicably hot girlfriend) found Aquaman’s costume and trident.

I use the phrase “generic white guy” to describe him and by that I don’t mean to say that non-white characters are inherently more interesting or more identifiable than white characters, only that Johns’ Aquaman falls into an archetype that has haunted comic books since Superman’s debut. Tall, straight-laced white males who, by whatever means, receive superpowers and become heroes while simultaneously maintaining a complete lack of personality or individual character. Typically, they have jobs which are inherently interesting — Hal Jordan’s test pilot background or, going further back in Lantern history, Alan Scott’s engineering background — but ultimately these professions serve to supplement a personality that simply isn’t there. Aquaman falls victim to this trap, focusing on the character’s external attributes — his history, his power, his reputation, his place in the DC universe — at the expense of the internal conflicts which drive the character, which motivate, which build a special relationship with the reader as they identify and grow alongside the character.

Fundamentally, the book’s emotional core is barren. If you don’t care about Aquaman, you don’t care whether he succeeds or fails. There’s no tension, no intrigue, no commitment. By no means is he actively reprehensible, but by no means is he interesting either which, in this case, is just as bad.

But it’s Aquaman’s longtime love interest, Mera, Queen of Atlantis, who gets the greatest disservice here. Reduced to little more than a soundboard for Arthur’s own struggles (what little of substance there is), she exhibits the same lack of personality while at the same time rests what few character traits she does have on Aquaman. Early on, when Aquaman abandons his duties as king of Atlantis (we never even get to see Atlantis) in favor of reconnecting with humanity, Mera, native Atlantean, alien amongst land dwelling humans, accepts this and joins him with no argument. Seems a bit convenient, wouldn’t you say? Her entire character is defined by her relationship to Aquaman and little else.

And, to add insult to injury, that relationship goes horribly underdeveloped. When did they meet? Why are they together? How did they fall in love? What do they adore about each other? What keeps them together despite coming from two very different societies? Johns refuses to give the reader any insight into how these two work as a couple or why Mera would give up her life in Atlantis for a life above the sea with the man she “loves”.

To give some credit, she does display a great deal of strength, at least physically, and can seemingly hold her own without Aquaman, fighting alongside him against the trench monsters. A recurring joke even has people constantly referring to Mera as “Aquawoman,” which annoys both Arthur and Mera, implying that Mera is defined by more than just her relationship to Aquaman (never mind that her other actions undermine that at every turn) and is no mere sidekick.

Of course, this is undone when Johns gives Mera her own issue in the latter half of the volume, a whole adventure amidst the alien human world that surrounds her. But while Aquaman gets to battle monstrous sea beasts from the abyss, Mera battles — what else? — sexism! Beginning with Mera’s sexual assault at the hands of a supermarket manager, she goes on to combat a wife killer holding his daughter hostage. Mera stops short of calling any male a “sperm bank” (thanks, Frank Miller’s Wonder Woman!) but the intentions here are obvious and no less insulting.

Because, as ever, some writers just can’t get it out of their head that female characters don’t always have to combat “women’s issues.” While Aquaman’s lack of personality leads only to boredom and disinterest, this reduction of Mera’s character is outright offensive, especially given the rank caricature of the sexual offender (honestly, even for a comic book, this guy’s behavior is way too transparent and sleazy) and the dramatic convenience of the wife killer. Just a bad day to be a woman in a sleepy seaside town, I guess. (A sleepy seaside town…which regularly encounters armored car heists and hostage situations…huh. Where the hell do these people live!?)

The only saving grace here is Ivan Reis’ artwork which depicts the trench monsters with terrifying detail and visual personality. Action scenes ring with force and panache, although his background characters leave something to be desired. It’s just a shame that penciling this good is propping up characters this flimsy and poorly developed.

It’s sad to see that something like this deserves a hardcover release in DC’s eyes while Swamp Thing can only be found in paperback. Worse, it’s sad to see DC’s chief creative officer’s talents waning so obviously. Johns has had his ups and downs before but between this and Batman: Earth One, he’s clearly running out of ideas. And the lack of interesting, high concept ideas leaves Johns’ typically weak, uninspired, and workmanlike dialogue fully exposed. Of all the Justice League member books yet published, this is the most forgettable and easily overlooked.

Teen Titans Vol. 1: It’s Our Right to Fight

Between Superboy and Red Hood and the Outlaws Scott Lobdell has demonstrated why he isn’t the best fit for these characters. He has no or little respect for their legacy and no grasp on the clashing ethos between DC’s stable of teenage heroes and the wunderkinds Lobdell wrote over at Marvel during his Generation X days. So, it should come as no surprise that Lobdell’s Teen Titans are composed of characters that could easily pass for Marvel archetypes. Almost all of them are runaways, one of them is a time traveler, one a mutating monster, and another a thief. Throw in an alien for good measure and you have the latest Marvel team-up.

Perhaps that’s an unfair comparison. After all, the DC universe isn’t bare of aliens, mutants, and heroes physically scarred by their superpowers, much less any previous Teen Titans incarnation. But then there’s also things like tone and character to consider. And from a tonal perspective, this book doesn’t feel like a Teen Titans book. The characterization doesn’t feel like DC characterization. Like Lobdell’s Superboy, we again have people goaded into heroism rather than pursuing it of their own volition, the defining trait of most every DC hero including the Titans.

But…is that so bad?

Again, we have the reboot to consider, the goal at the heart of it, to inject new life and new perspective into old characters and old teams. To do away with the stale and the bygone and substitute the new and the fresh.

Nice of Bruce to pose for this photo with Tim. It’s not often you can wrangle him into a Sears portrait, but, when you do, he sells it.

In that regard…we have a bit of a mixed bag.

It’s Our Right to Fight chronicles the assembly and creation of the first Teen Titans team (something that will clash with the continuity of Lobdell’s own Red Hood and the Outlaws but we’ll get there). Of course, these aren’t the teens we’ve known for so many years, seen as an impetuous Kid Flash causes a backdraft in a burning building, endangering himself as well as the firefighters as arrogance overrides scientific brilliance. Meanwhile, Tim Drake, alias Red Robin, monitors not only Kid Flash but several other teen heroes, all of whom he believes stalked by the secret organization N.O.W.H.E.R.E. (which you may remember from Superboy). Soon enough, N.O.W.H.E.R.E. agents track down Drake and force him out of hiding. Now on the shortlist, Red Robin embarks on a search for fellow teen heroes to unite and combat N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and their mysterious backers. These heroes include the returning Wonder Girl/Cassie Sandsmark and Solstice/Kiran Singh, as well as new characters Skitter and Bunker/Miguel Barragan.

Compared to Lobdell’s previous outing with Superboy, Teen Titans succeeds more often than it fails. Whereas Superboy remained insular and rarely interacted meaningfully with supporting characters around him, remaining suspicious and dissocial, Teen Titans focuses much more on the interpersonal relationships building between our team members. Each Titan has a well defined personality and we get a fair number of bonding moments between them throughout the book, though not as many as one would like for a new team just getting to know each other. In particular, Bunker barely rises about a caricature, flamboyant and sassy as any poorly written gay Hispanic male. (Try not rolling your eyes when Bunk exclaims “Fabuloso!” without a tinge of irony.) Nevertheless, Kid Flash’s veneer of arrogance eventually drops, Solstice displays a caring, nurturing side, Wonder Girl holds some typical thief-with-a-heart-of-gold traits but pulls through for the team when the time comes, and Tim Drake feels like Tim Drake, leading the team ably though with a cold edge, something he will no doubt combat and settle in following volumes.

The Titans’ conflict with N.O.W.H.E.R.E. earns some suitably action heavy moments, such as Superboy’s battle with Wonder Girl and the Titans’ assault on N.O.W.H.E.R.E.’s base. N.O.W.H.E.R.E. leaves something to be desired as a villain, however. They’re certainly no Trigon, but as their ulterior motives become more apparent with Lobdell’s coming Culling crossover event, they may have a few tricks to pull yet. In fact, that’s another thing Teen Titans has in its favor that many New 52 books seem to be missing: narrative direction and focus. This story feels like it’s going somewhere, building to something, whereas too many books hopscotch between one-off stories and incomplete narratives hinting at future plotlines without any forward momentum regarding character or plot development (see Resurrection Man…on second thought, don’t see Resurrection Man — it sucks).

What this book lacks is heroism. The Titans spend more time combating N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and its agents than fighting crime (albeit, most superheroes nowadays make their living battling clandestine organizations with vaguely evil motives than street-level crime). And, granted, N.O.W.H.E.R.E. isn’t the most benevolent of organizations but it would have been nice to see the Titans save a life or two that wasn’t their own. Again, this feels like an X-title: mutants protecting mutants — or meta-teens protecting meta-teens in this case. Little in the way of do-gooding, more in the way of self-preservation. Would it kill someone to rescue a kitten from a tree!?

Overall, the book has a very light and fun feel with none of the heavy-handed angst teen books easily fall into. There’s nothing overly offensive or moronic but the book doesn’t measure up to previous Titans runs and under Lobdell’s guiding hand, it likely won’t rise above the Generation X-lite status it earns in this volume.

For any longtime Teen Titans fan I can’t recommend this book; Lobdell either changes the personalities of established characters too radically (Superboy) or reverts them to points readers had long since past (Bart Allen/Kid Flash). The book doesn’t evoke any of the spirit or character that earned previous series their fanbases. Though that isn’t to say it lacks spirit or character and, for any new readers, particularly anyone making the jump from Marvel to DC, there’s still plenty to enjoy here — lighthearted action, fun characters, and a well-plotted narrative.

Reviews of SWAMP THING VOL. 1: RAISE THEM BONES, RESURRECTION MAN VOL. 1: DEAD AGAIN, and THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS VOL. 1: SCIENCE BAD

Science. Science and madness. Science and madness and monsters. All come into play in today’s line of books which include the revitalization of two languishing DC properties — a woe begotten creature from the bogs of Louisiana battling the forces of decay and ruin, and a man of many lives and many deaths and many a superpower questing for lost memories and answers — and a new series from Image which takes us down an alternate route through history powered by unadulterated feats of SCIENCE!

Swamp Thing Vol. 1: Raise Them Bones

Created by writer Len Wein and artist Berni Wrightson, Swamp Thing first appeared in the anthology series The House of Secrets in 1971 but soon received his own ongoing series exploring the desperate battle between man and monster. Featuring botanist Dr. Alec Holland chemically transformed into a vegetative monstrosity, the series naturally gravitated toward horror — the body horror of Holland’s transformation, the horrors of man’s hubris both scientific and supernatural, and, of course, the the simple horror of a monster-of-the-week. And, in many respects, Swamp Thing has enjoyed a far more illustrious career than some of DC’s more well-known characters with two theatrically released films (the first, and by far the more worthwhile, directed by Wes Craven) and a seventy-two episode television series under his belt.

In comics, however, Swamp Thing’s most definitive run came in the wake of his film adaptation under the tenure of Alan Moore who established the most long lasting aspects of the character. Sweeping aside the previous series’ cast of secondary characters, Moore deemphasized the Alec Holland side of Swamp Thing in favor of the monster, reminiscent in many ways of the eponymous creature of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, especially in Swamp Thing’s grandiose narration and dialogue. Moore introduced the Parliament of Trees, a supernatural group of elementals who speak for the Green, the force governing all vegetative life, for which Swamp Thing became guardian and champion.

Building upon the mythology originated by Alan Moore while tying into Jeff Lemire’s Animal Man mythos, Scott Snyder — author of American Vampire and the New 52’s highly acclaimed Batman series — revitalizes the Swamp Thing name once again. And rather than wiping previous Swamp Thing continuity out of existence, Snyder’s series assumes those events transpired (at least in broad strokes) while reintroducing us to an untransformed Alec Holland — the memories of his monstrous years made fuzzy and foreign to the now human Holland. This has the advantage of creating an entry point for new readers without disregarding previous continuity in its entirety (so for a second time Snyder proves why the reboot may have been unnecessary).

Snyder draws a clear line between Alec Holland and the Swamp Thing of previous comics as Holland’s reclaimed humanity makes him a radically different character. Thus, he can act as the audience’s voice when encountering new, strange sights while not being completely uninformed as well — a good example of Snyder having his cake and eating it too. The only hiccup here comes through an exposition scene early in issue 2 which fails to derail the book’s plot but is nevertheless stilted and awkward. That aside, the book hits all the high points one would expect from a Snyder-penned horror title.

All over the world animals are spontaneously dying in large groups — birds falling from the sky, cattle collapsing in the field, entire schools of fish sinking to their graves — and the superheroes of the world take note. Alec Holland, meanwhile, works construction outside the swamps he once roamed as a monster, tormented by memories he can’t bring himself to call his own. The Green still calls to him but Alec, having finally rid himself of the monster and reclaimed his humanity, will have nothing to do with it. That quickly changes when the Rot, supernatural embodiment of decay and death, gathers its undead forces for yet another war against the Red and the Green, setting sight on Holland, the man destined to be the Green’s greatest champion.

Much like Animal Man, Swamp Thing emphasizes supernatural body horror to chilling effect. As an emissary of the Rot forces an archaeologist’s neck to twist and snap of its own accord while said archaeologist can only wait and scream as his own body turns against him, the hairs of one’s own neck will be standing on end. Emissaries of the Rot (alternatively, the Black in keeping with the color theme) are more frightening than ever, quite the accomplishment considering how well they were rendered in Animal Man. All glory in that regard goes to Yanick Paquette’s artwork which integrates beautiful linework with creative layouts and arrangements that evoke J.H. Williams III. His monster designs give Travel Foreman’s a run for their money but aren’t nearly as spine chilling as the Rot’s supernatural ability to manipulate dead or necrotized flesh, turning tumors and diseases into mutant abominations that kill from the inside out.

And, again, much like Animal Man, the book’s greatest strength is its characters. While Holland’s reluctance to become Swamp Thing again leads to some damnable consequences, you nevertheless sympathize with his situation and never blame him for the tragedies that ensue. The sacrifice of Holland humanity holds greater weight because it’s no longer an accident of science and mutation, and his guardianship of the Green feels more grandiose because it’s something he must choose to uphold rather than a duty foisted upon him by a higher power. As well, Holland’s relationship with longtime Swamp Thing supporting character Abigail Arcane rings true despite the relatively short interval the characters spend together, evoking the romantic connection shared between the characters from previous continuity while also developing into circumstances that can seemingly only lead to tragedy. However, Snyder gives the reader enough hope and establishes the characters so well that one can’t help but root for Holland’s triumph over the Rot.

Scott Snyder brings us another must-read book, especially for any fan of supernatural horror or Swamp Thing’s previous incarnations. Suspense, horror, and action deliver in equal measure, never once battling for a greater share of the spotlight but blending together seamlessly (something which won’t be shared by our next title). As well, Swamp Thing is essential reading for any fan of Lemire’s Animal Man as the two’s intertwining mythologies will soon have them crossing over in the “Rot World” event where the forces of the Green, the Red, and the Rot will finally wage war.

Resurrection Man Vol. 1: Dead Again

Conceived by British writing duo Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning with American Jackson Guice, Mitch Shelley, alias Resurrection Man, originally appeared in a self-titled series in 1997 which lasted until 1999. Written as a “non-traditional” superhero, Mitch Shelley possessed a seemingly immortal body following experimentation by your typical clandestine super-science organization; after each apparent “death”, Shelley resurrects with a new superpower based on how he previously died. Eschewing colorful costumes and superheroics in general, the original Resurrection Man series focused on Mitch’s journey across the United States in search of the truth behind his past and rebirth as Resurrection Man. After cancellation, Shelley made sporadic cameos in other DC books but never received any spotlight attention until eleven years later when Abnett and Lanning returned with a rebooted Resurrection Man for the New 52.

Featuring a rewritten origin that ties Shelley into the larger DC universe, the new Resurrection Man once again follows Mitch Shelley battling amnesia as he struggles to uncover the secrets of his past and his powers. Along the way he’s accosted by a rather demonic looking angel, a pair of lesbian assassins, a retired supervillain, and even crosses paths with some of Gotham’s mentally disturbed denizens. And as exciting as those things sound, the execution largely disappoints.

Next to nothing of the previous series’ continuity remains although enough changes have been made that the book doesn’t retread old territory. Rather, the book’s failings stem from its general lack of focus, the plots aimless meandering, Shelley’s weak sense of agency, and an unnecessary amount of fan service.

With the introduction of the Body Doubles, the aforementioned lesbian assassins (characters introduced in the original Resurrection Man), the book seems to start moving in a plot progressive direction as we learn more about Shelley’s revamped past and his relationship to the Doubles, Bonnie and Carmen. But the narrative swiftly abandons these threads as one of Shelley’s eponymous resurrections spirits him away to Arkham Asylum. Following that diversion, the book then decides it’s time for Shelley to learn the value of heroism as he confronts some meth manufacturers held up in an abandoned Metropolis apartment complex.

This shift isn’t wholly without setup and Shelley never acts out of character, but it nevertheless feels underdeveloped and unearned. Mainly due to Shelley’s poor sense of agency leading up to that point. The book’s narrative primarily focuses on things happening to Shelley rather than him taking any sort of action of his own. We understand the motives of those hunting him more so than his own motivations to avoid them. Supposedly, he’s trying to find answers to his past but he inevitably happens upon those truths by accident rather than discovering them himself. The only time he takes any sort of action is in self-defense against the Body Doubles or his supernatural hunters. It’s also telling that, while other characters reveal personality through dialogue, Shelley’s character mainly emerges through narrative captions rather than his interactions with others. Consequently, Shelley comes off as bland and uninteresting — an ironic contrast to his former life, prior to amnesia, which reveals Shelley’s unfeeling, malicious past as a bastard, a more compelling characterization for no better reason than at least he has a personality.

Abnett and Lanning can’t seemingly decide if they want the series to have a linear narrative or indulge in episodic adventures. As such, the book becomes unfocused and even a bit confused as to what it wants to be, fluctuating between supernatural horror and action thriller, ultimately failing to terrify while the action feels unmotivated and pointless. An extended sequence features the Body Doubles trying to take down Shelley for the sake of transporting him to their boss, but dialogue reveals that Shelley would have come with them willingly just to learn about his past and lost memories. So, basically, the Doubles murdered dozens of civilians and caused millions of dollars in collateral damage over a failure to communicate. Fucking hell.

Pencils by Fernando Dagnino are nothing spectacular though neither are they terribly lazy or incompetent. At worst, panels can seem a bit cluttered or crowded and certain visuals rely heavily on poorly integrated CG and Photoshop effects, particularly any “energy” effects or powers exhibited by certain characters. The colorist puts a heavy emphasis on black ink and darker tones, a trait common to many New 52 books, but here it’s especially overdone despite the darker shades matching the general feel of the book. However, as soon as the Body Doubles emerge on scene, the artwork perks up for a good helping of fan service, including a full page spread of the girls in their underwear, and some panty shots during their action scenes. The spread had to be a request of Abnett and Lanning — a particularly fetishy request, at that, as the girls are surrounded by guns and ammo, posing seductively for…well, no one since they’re alone and seemingly not in the mood to entice each other — but the panty shots are no doubt Dagnino’s choice and completely unnecessary. I’m not normally one to get uptight about fan service, especially in books obviously aimed at a more mature audience, but when the person being eroticized is an unrepentant murderer and generally repugnant in every other regard, I find it difficult to get hot and bothered.

As of issue thirteen, the series has been slated for cancellation and it’s not difficult to see why. While there are certainly worse titles still under publication, Resurrection Man fails to recapture any of the qualities that garnered critical acclaim for its original series. Shelley isn’t an engaging character, the mysteries at play aren’t particularly enthralling (or have obviously telegraphed conclusions), and the whole affair reeks of blandness. I doubt we’ll be seeing another resurrection out of Resurrection Man. (Had to get that pun in there eventually.)

The Manhattan Projects Vol. 1: Science Bad

SCIENCE!

Delicious, delicious science.

Science stays crunchy, even in milk!

The internet certainly loves its enthusiastic exclamations of “Science!” While one could hope that this enthusiasm represents a growing affinity for critical thinking in popular culture, more likely it proves that some spirit of the ‘50s and ‘60s era of limitless scientific discovery and accomplishment still lingers in our society. And likewise, the latent fear of science — the potential unwelcome truths and weaponization of grand notions — still pervades. The Manhattan Projects proves a perfect vessel for both, reimagining the program that would eventually give the U.S. the atomic bomb as a cover story for even deeper explorations into the untapped realm of super-science, leading down heretofore unexplored realms of war, death, and madness.

The book brings together some of the most well-known scientific minds behind the historical Manhattan Project — Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, Richard Feynman, Wernher von Braun (an unhistorical addition to the team), and project director Major General Leslie Groves — and recasts them as a troupe of inglorious bastards, paving the way for America’s future through the paranormal, extraterrestrial, and whatever preternatural means they can get their hands on.

These first five issues focus on the introduction of our cast, each issue giving focus to a different member of the Projects while delivering revelations and secrets that will no doubt play bigger roles later in the series. Indeed, author Jonathan Hickman (Nightly News, Fantastic Four, Future Foundation, and S.H.I.E.L.D.) hints at future plot developments and grander schemes via excerpts from fictionalized records of the Projects which precede and conclude every issue. These excerpts simultaneously build character and expand upon the nature of the world at play, hinting at a vast and marvelous history.

Meanwhile, the characters themselves resemble little to nothing of their personalities (actual or perceived) in favor of gross caricatures which fit the twisted, paranormal world they inhabit. Major General Groves is the hard-nosed, Doc Savage-esque man-of-action never without a live grenade strapped to his lapel. Oppenheimer is the off-putting eccentric masking a dark secret. Feynman, a successful popularizer of science and physics in real life, is an utter narcissist. And Wernher von Braun is your classic only-in-it-for-the-science madman, willing to poison his peers and betray the Cause just for a whiff of steel and rocket fumes. Each enthralls and enriches the story in their own way and the book could easily follow any one of them while working equally well as an ensemble cast.

Summarizing the plot proves difficult because only the inklings of a larger narrative reveal themselves in this volume, opting more for episodic adventures and stories while hopping through the Projects’ timeline. Suffice to say, it involves a lot of science, madness, aliens, and a good dose of reckless abandon.

In the vein of Frank Quitely, Nick Pitarra’s art is detailed, fantastical, and perfectly suited to the madcap nature of the book — especially as a teleporting Japanese Torii gateway spews mechanical samurai into the Projects’ underground Los Alamos base — but will nevertheless be off-putting to those who don’t like his particular stylization. Personally, the art took a moment’s adjustment for me but soon felt perfectly natural for the cartoonish and outlandish nature of the book.

If any make-or-break fault can be found in the book, it’s that it has no relatable protagonist. No one speaks for the audience or acts as the conscience of the book. And while the cast is not without their sympathetic aspects, all of them possess some quality that fundamentally dissociates them from the reader. Whether it’s Feynman’s simple narcissism or General Groves’ fanaticism or Von Braun’s…well, being a Nazi (he never removes his uniform and no one else seems to mind) or the more radical fates of Oppenheimer and Einstein, there exists no character who acts as the series’ moral compass. Rather, the book opts for the unfiltered madness and lunacy that ensues when all these personalities are thrown into a room and given fantastical tools of super-science to play around with.

So, any objections against the book devolve into a matter of taste more than anything. Hickman has the story he wants to tell, knows the audience it will appeal to, and is more than comfortable with how narrow that audience will be. Nevertheless, The Manhattan Projects is compulsively readable if only to see what strange sights and abominations will emerge out of Los Alamos next.

A Week Late and a Few Dollar Short seems a bit of an understatement every time I post here. 16 articles in about 2 years, that’s unforgivable. No apologies. Never give up, never surrender, never accept blame when you can shoulder it onto the consequences of life.

I have recently finished reading Promethea by Alan Moore published from 1999-2005, 32 issues over 5 trade paperbacks and I’m slightly in love with the story in a way that I can’t remember being for quite some time.

Very appropriately timed to the writing of this article (clearly not timed with the posting of it) was the announcement that Neil Gaiman would be continuing the story of Sandman with J.H. Williams III on art duties. Sandman and Promethea are often compared as they both deal with the nature of the imagination, reality, unconscious creation, and the opposing powers of mankind’s desire to disbelieve and the necessity of his curiosity. Needless to say, I think, I am immensely excited for this project.

It’s been pretty rare in my (admittedly limited) experience with published human imagination that I come across a work of fiction that can change my perspective. It’s changed my perspective so much that I have been making increasingly grand and all-encompassing statements about how amazing it was. I experienced this same phenomenon when I first read the Screwtape Letters, or Phaedo. It happened when I watched Brazil or Dark City, and it happened when I read Gaiman’s Sandman, Morrison’s All-Star Superman and Arkham Asylum, Ellis’ Transmetropolitan, and so on. As highfalutin and grandiloquent as it sounds, I had a sort of realization of the immense amount of storytelling that I hadn’t allowed myself to realize was possible. All of these stories (though it is not a comprehensive list, to be sure) showed me a broadening of what could be done in that medium or what could be said about a character, time, place, or philosophy.

Maybe I’m selling this a bit high. Forgive me, It’s a damn fine comic book and I tend to get excited about that sort of thing.

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS QUITE A FEW SPOILERS FOR THE SERIES PROMETHEA BY ALAN MOORE AND J.H. WILLIAMS III. IF YOU WISH TO READ THE STORY WITH SOME SURPRISES STILL INTACT, PLEASE DO SO, THEN COME BACK AND READ THIS.

The Story:

Promethea, at its surface and for a very short time, is the story of Sophie Bangs, a college student trying to figure life out and survive it while being the companion/avatar for a spiritual archetype of femininity and storytelling. The story takes place in the America’s Best Comics world of Alan Moore, and the last issue served as an effective ending of Moore’s universe (including Top 10, Tom Strong, Terra Obscura, etc.)

By the end of the first trade, the story is much less about Sophie and very much about the titular character and what she represents to the world. Promethea is a sort of protector to the world that we live in, a goddess of necessity, imagined by man for its own sake. Her role in the world, as is stated near the end of the series, is to bring about the apocalypse and in doing so, save mankind (backwards thinking, to be sure).

Sophie-as-Promethea journeys through the spiritual plane called the Immateria guided by the seven previous incarnations of the Promethea that were in our world (there can only be one avatar of the spirit at any one time) and a few other guests and discovers what her role in the greater scheme of the world is. The Immateria is presented as a physical or sometimes ethereal representation of collective human imagination, which in this story is what the entirety of what is known and what isn’t is built out of, humans being unique in their ability to imagine that which isn’t and make it real. Her path takes her across the many planes and levels of existence, through the Hebrew spheres of existence, across mythology and through the numbered paths of the Kabbalah. She encounters various entities existing as masters of archetypal ideas and still slaves to the collective human consciousness with themes lying heavily in freedom, power, and understanding of sexuality, the psychological concepts of Jung et. al., and the Magickal experiences of those like Crowley and John Dee.

After issue 32, you realize that this was not an effort of the comic book medium to tell a story, but instead was Alan Moore’s pulpit. It was his soapbox and his stage from which to tell anyone willing to hear what he believes the universe is and the story was written to be a handbook to the madness. Throughout, the story is governed by his personal philosophies. There is an issue-long examination of the tarot, a meta-philosophy that combines bits and pieces of all religions, centered on the idea that a god is, by necessity and by imagination a result of that god’s conception by man, and a kabbalic road map for the higher planes of existence and imagination detailed in sight, smell, and experience and using Sophie-as-Promethea as our proxy.

There is, mind you, a running narrative in the real world, with Sophie’s best friend acting as a substitute Promethea for a time, a group of science heroes fighting to understand Promethea and stop various criminals, and the usual assortment of post-modern culture commentary that Moore intersperses within the background of panels and in “unnecessary” thought boxes on each page. The real world narrative ends as Promethea (*spoiler*) ends the world. However, this does not act as a literal end of the world. Humanity within the story receives an enlightenment and a union with the Immateria. The world continues, and people live on, but under a new mind.

The official end to the series was in issue 32, which when originally printed, was printed as a huge poster, with two 16-page sides acting as a symbolic art piece and an epilogue up the meaning behind the story. Promethea talks through the fourth wall to the reader, explaining what he/she just read and giving clarity and understanding to a shared spiritual journey.

It’s by no means perfectly written. At times, it is very clear that Alan Moore is enamored with his own worldview and wants you to join in the him-worship. At many points the reading is repetitive and daunting due to the mass of symbolism and Moore’s insistence on detailing the meaning of every experience, but the poetic (literally) effort of the tarot issue alone and the precision with which he crafted the narrative show his genius.

The Art:

J.H. Williams III and Mick Grey wonders with every page. There is hardly an inch on any page that is not drawn with intent and with care. The real world pages are drawn fairly static and, probably very purposefully so to display the pages of the Immateria in comparative splendour. As with most Alan Moore efforts, the background is nearly as important to the narrative as the main action, providing commentary and enhancing/reflecting the themes. The layouts in particular are impressive, as the freedom and care that he adds meaning to each page is simply astounding. The art really shines, however, in the Immateria.

Williams, with differing visual styles, creates vastly different symbolic worlds for Sophie to travel through, from the blurry, unsure bottom of the imagination, through the fires of passion and rage, and the pure, uncontainable light of the “heaven” of the imagination. Each plane is unique, each world is tangible and accessible while maintaining the dense imagery and symbolism of the dialogue. Also of particular note are two issues, the tarot issue that I’ve mentioned ad nauseum which, while essentially simple is nearly perfect in its presentation of an isolated story, and the final issue which contains absolutely ridiculous amount of effort to make every page unique while showing 3 separate and cohesive narratives.

I only wish I was more qualified to comment on art, because this deserves a better judge.

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Regardless of the content of the story and the merit of the writing of something so steeped in a personal philosophy, Promethea shows the pinnacle of what can be achieved in the graphic medium. To quote the book directly:

“Using language, we decode existence, make it lucid, cast light upon it. These marks on paper that you are reading are a program, running on the high-rez software of the human mind and it’s imagination. It’s also appropriate that I’m talking to you from the medium of a comic-strip story. Ideograms and Hieroglyphic picture stories were our earliest written language, how we recorded our exploits and our fabulous imaginings.”

Pentagon studies in the 1980s demonstrated that comic strip narrative is still the best way of conveying understandable and retainable information. Words being the currency of our verbal ‘left’ brain, and images that of our pre-verbal ‘right’ brain, perhaps comic strip reading prompts both halves to work in unison?

“We created fantasies then struggled to realize them. Everything around you right now originated in someone’s mind. Creating gods, goddesses, heroes and heroines, we tried to become like them, extending ourselves through sheer imagination.”

If gods are transcendent ideas, then the idea of a god IS a god. Divine images attempted to raise human consciousness using the power of art. Classical god-statues were intended for meditation purposes rather than worship, so that by understand a god’s qualities, we might reproduce them more fully in ourselves.

“Imagination can transform us. Yesod, the lunar sphere of imagination, is the foundation on which our spiritual life rests. Imagination arises out of consciousness, which itself blossoms from Hod, the mercurial, magical sphere of language.”

Promethea is a celebration of the imagination, filtered through the praise of language and graphical presentation and steeped in one man’s generous helping of crazy; one that all of you should read. Now, all I need to do is find the Absolute Editions for under $75.00.

All images were pulled through Google. None are my own scans of the comic.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Please welcome Josh to the DOOM team. He’s going to be doing some comic reviews for us so give him that old DOOM welcome… just try not to spill anything on the floor while you’re doing it.

The first wave of trade paperbacks for DC Comics’ New 52 line of books are arriving. Rebirths and new beginnings are the aim of the game and where better to begin my reviews than by looking at a book that…has had little to none of its continuity altered by the reboot.

Brilliant.

But that isn’t to say it’s impossible to pick up Green Lantern Vol. 1 without having read preceding books and enjoy it. Quite the contrary, the book works surprisingly well as a stand-alone, a jumping-on point, and a continuation. Building on the characters’ stories while providing a new exciting adventure, peppered with enough information and backstory for new readers to quickly and easily engulf themselves in the Green Lantern mythos.

Following the events of War of the Green Lanterns, Hal Jordan has been relieved of his power ring and shunted back to earth by the Guardians of the Universe, the creators and overseers of the Green Lantern Corps. In his place, the power ring has chosen long time Lantern foe Sinestro for its new bearer. The Guardians take this as a sign that Sinestro deserves a chance at redemption for his past crimes and, thus, set him free. And Sinestro’s first goal as a reinstated Green Lantern? To free his homeworld from the scourge of his very own Sinestro Corps. (And, no, he most certainly does not appreciate the irony there.)

On earth, Hal Jordan pines for his days as a Lantern, defending the earth against horrors from beyond the stars. But the mundane trials of life — bills, unemployment, taxes — prove somehow more daunting than any superpowered alien for the former test-pilot-turned-superhero. More problems abound when Hal’s on-again/off-again love interest Carol Ferris finally calls it quits after one comical misuderstanding too many tips the scales (protip: When at a romantic, candlelit restaurant, don’t ask your girlfriend to cosign your lease. Save that for a parent’s funeral). Afterward, Hal promises himself to put his past as Green Lantern behind him and move on. Unfotunately for him, Sinestro has other plans as he seduces Jordan into a covert mission to liberate his homeworld. The bribe: a construct power ring and one last taste of Green Lantern glory.

Like Scott Snyder’s Batman series, Green Lantern proves you don’t need to retread an origin to create a new, reader-friendly book. All you need is a good story and skill enough to disguise the artifice with plot and character. The backstory for Hal Jordan, the history and purpose of the Green Lanterns, Sinestro’s past as a villain, all of this is conveyed organically as part of the narrative. No awkward exposition. No clunky dialogue. No moments when the reader feels they’re missing something.

And the narrative here is a strong one. Few can argue how well Geoff Johns has managed to reinvigorate the Green Lantern franchise, specifically with the character of Hal Jordan, beginning with Green Lantern: Rebirth through The Sinestro Corps War and on to Blackest Night. (It’s no wonder that the Green Lanterns received four books dedicated to them upon DC’s relaunch.) Here, Johns continues that magic, weaving twin tales of redemption and second chances (and third, fourth, and tenth chances in Hal’s case) into a tale that will thrill the old and enthrall the new.

Sinestro and Hal form a strangely compelling buddy cop team — an odd couple, to be sure, but with more in common than either would like to admit. Imagine Murtagh and Riggs with superpowers and you’ll begin to get the idea. Their reparte crackles with equal parts venom, snark and begrudging admiration. And one can’t help but hope their twisted buddy act continues through a good part of the series. A particular favorite moment of mine, Sinestro, despite having just been punched in the face by Jordan, can’t help but burst out laughing at the idea that he only “thinks” he’s better than Hal when it’s quite obvious that he is better than Hal. A smiling Sinestro is a very…disturbing thing.

Pencils by Doug Mahnke bring the bombast of alien brawls to stunning life. Action is coherent and flows nicely while rarely skimping on the details. His alien designs and renditions of recurring secondary villains (I particularly like one called Slushh: a mound of stretchy, sentient goo filled with the floating bones of its victims. He needs his own spinoff) are wonderfully ludicrous.

He does, however, have a problem with facial expressions. Near the end of chapter/issue 1, Carol Ferris maintains the same expression for the four straight panels she appears in: wide doe eyes with slightly parted lips (you know…like a blowup doll). It seems anything more subtle than the usual Happy, Sad, and Angry faces gives Mahnke trouble. For example, that same issue ends with a full page spread of Sinestro fighting a member of the Sinestro Corps but, according to his face, Sinestro is distracted by the smell of a particularly bad fart. Truly odd given he was in the vacuum of space at the time.

Minor quibbles aside, Green Lantern Vol. 1 proves an excellent book for old and new readers. Building on the recurring theme of the Gaurdian’s fickle nature, Johns teases us Sinestro’s long and winding road to redemption, Hal’s struggle to subdue his death wish heroics, and the grand and glorious prospects of a “Third Army.” While Green Lantern shows that the reboot and reset of all DC’s titles to issue #1 may have been unnecessary, hopefully it at least introduced new readers to Green Lantern, its characters, their quests, and the struggle of many races, many species to weave peace and justice throughout the galaxy.

Sometimes I look at my toothbrush and think, you’re named wrong. I mean, no one ever says, I’m going to go brush my tooth. Unless, well, you do actually have only one tooth. I’m confident in saying most of us have more than one little calcified stump, therefore it should be called a teethbrush. It’s probably just me, and this has absolutely nothing to do with this month’s poll. I’ve literally just brushed my teeth. I wouldn’t ponder this for long, but rather, bear with me as Aaron is off gallivanting around Dragon*Con *naked, I’ve been handed the reigns to come up with this month’s poll.

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Last month DC and Marvel went toe-to-toe, and your votes were split in deciding who struck the Balboa killer blow. From here on, both companies will live in harmony, as equals. That’s right, the battle is over, but the galaxy spanning adventures of the Transformers will continue and the greatest Autobot of them all; Optimus Prime, will retur—what? Oh, sorry. Geek tangent. Poll. Right. Ok.

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This month, DOOM! has a franchise related question for you: which is the best horror franchise of recent times? Yes, this would be perfect for October, but it’s September – you see we like to be the early bird… because we like worms. Or something. This made sense in my head five minutes back.

Have at it!

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* Did I say naked? He probably isn’t, but then again, I’m not there, so I can’t rule out the possibility that he is.

The day of the reboot has come. It was largely a disappointment, but I don’t really know anyone who was expecting it to be anything other than complete garbage.

I suppose I’ll start with the end, rather than the beginning.

Flashpoint #5
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art by ANDY KUBERT, SANDRA HOPE, and JESSE DELPERDANG

In a word…or three: I hate it.

This was a mess. Let me just start out by saying SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS because if you don’t know the story and conclusion of Flashpoint, you’re going to in a second. Secondly, TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE because it was everything I really wished it wasn’t.

The buildup that started way back when with Flash #1 in June 2010 was actually very good and pretty interesting. Barry Allen of the future kills the Mirror Master because he was going to kill Iris or some such. It was actually the Top whose motivations are to stop his ancestor’s criminal record from getting him barred from becoming a time cop (which he already was) and some such that I don’t really remember but it was an interesting little mystery story. The end of that 6 issue arc referenced some changes to the timestream and some things going on that made it that led directly in to Flashpoint. Now, problem the first, the changes to the timestream seemed to be limited to Wonder Woman having a different costume, Darkseid sending Bruce back in time with the Omega effect, Lex Luthor meeting Death, Deadman with the White Lantern Ring, and what looked like the Dread Pirate Roberts fighting another pirate…not a lot that spells out “TIME DISASTER!” to me. Even if you take into account the mess that was Time Masters: Vanishing Point to try to explain everything, you only get the idea that Darkseid messed something up. None of the other items belong on that board really. Does a costume change really mean a glitch in the timesteam?

Now, I suppose we’re supposed to believe that there are two, distinct timelines being viewed here, or at least 2 of the 3 mentioned in Flashpoint #5. This, however, is unclear, because in a splashpage in #5, we see what looks to be the rebooted timeline (#1), the pre-reboot timeline (#2), and the Wildstorm timeline (which is not, in fact, a timeline but is apparently another universe of some sort) (#3). I must note that nowhere in this mix is the actual timeline created during Flashpoint (#4). So that leaves us with at least 5 “timelines” (including the broken one from Flash #6 from whence Hot Pursuit came) . This is either a gross oversight by the artist, poor planning, or evidence that they don’t know what the frak they’re doing.

To quell some argument: Yes, I’m being this picky. No, this isn’t being overly analytic of the comic because Flashpoint, JLA, The Flash, and Brightest Day are all written by the same man who has a responsibility to keep his damn story straight or let somebody else take the reigns.

TL;DR: It doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Now, the book itself. The issue is mostly a huge argument between Flash and Reverse Flash about how the Flash ruined everything by trying to change time. The entire reason for Flashpoint’s existence is explained pretty swiftly over two panels. Barry Allen was sad because he learned that Rev. Flash killed his mother in the past. In a flashback that we never actually saw in comic books and is referenced for the first time on page three here, we see The Flash go back in time to stop The Reverse Flash. Apparently, Allen did some hooba jooba with the Speed Force and caused a massive timesplosion that created the Flashpoint universe.

Now, to the weakest part of the story, the part where Eobard Thawne reveals that he’s an absolute dick. He wanted Barry to remember, he could do it at any time and make him suffer in the knowledge that he caused all this. He could have done that before Barry had the help of Batman and could have done it without anyone’s knowledge and thus made the entirety of Flashpoint obsolete (because, honestly, the end of the issue does that anyways).

Rev. Flash also pointedly states that he is now immune to time…apparently. Because of the fact that he was traveling through time when Barry changed it, the rules of time no longer apply to him. To make a point, THAT’S NOT HOW TIME TRAVEL WORKS! I get it, comic books have free reign over the laws of physics and the rules of the universe. The second you travel through time, you become immune to time travel. You create infinite alternate universes every instance that you step out of the normal stream of time.By the simple act of going back in time to kill someone, you would create a universe in which you kill them, while leaving the original completely untouched.

Thawne uses this new knowledge to beat the Flash to a bloody pulp (because The Flash, trained fighter with the Justice League, suddenly cannot fight worth a damn). He claims that he now has eternal double jeopardy for Barry Allen and there will never ever be any repercussions for killing him. However, Batman, once again proving to be the only effective hero in the DCU, Bat-impales him on his Bat-sword.

Some other stuff that doesn’t really matter happens. Superman/boy shows up and punches people, Flash runs really fast to stop himself from running really fast, and a creepy phantom lady head tells the Flash that he done messed up. Time hits the restart button, Barry wakes up and makes Bruce Wayne cry with a Bat-letter from his future/not-future daddy.

Rating: 5/10 (If only because Reverse Flash gets Bat-sword-ed)

FIN.

Justice League #1
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art by JIM LEE

Similarly messy to Flashpoint #5, was its progeny, Justice League #1.

Now, this story takes place 5 years prior to any of the events of the rest of the reboot. This doesn’t immediately condemn the story to being awful because you can do a few “how they met” episodes and I’ll be just fine. It didn’t bother me in Lost and it don’t bother me now if they want to show me how they first met. DC wants new fans and I won’t begrudge them the effort, but as a long-time fan, don’t expect me to fawn over another gorram origin story.

An origin story that feels terrifyingly similar to All-Star Batman & Robin. However, this is a story without the goddamn Batman and lemonade, this story has a dickish (but still kinda awesome) Batman and a jerkass Hal Jordan. It also reveals pre-Cyborg Vic Stone for 4 pages of awkward father issues, and a Superman that might need a high-five for hurtin’ the face of Johns’ baby GL. Still no sign of Wonder Woman or Aquaman, though I really quite liked the rejected sketch in the back of the issue with Aquaman’s crustacean armor.

In relation to the rest of the reboot, this book doesn’t tell us much. The world seems to be a bit more hostile to superheroes in general, which I’m ok about, I guess it explains why there are so many “covert-ops” teams in the 52. Hal seems to have a much better grasp on being a Green Lantern, which might make some interesting reading for the main GL series. Bruce is a bit of an ass (Jordan DID deserve it) but at the end of Flashpoint he seemed like an alright dude when talking to Barry. Does he soften up a bit in the 5 years between Justice League #1 and now? Does Damien warm his heart to the cold, cruel world? Do rhetorical questions ever solve anything? The answer to all is a big ol’ MAYBE.

Final Thoughts:
1) GCPD has some damn nice equipment. Gatling guns, at least three helicopters, state-of-the-art body armor and uniform decals, irrational prejudice, Stormtrooper-like aim, real karate chop action, etc.
2) WHY IS BATMAN PUNCHING THE BUILDING WITH HIS CAPE!?!?INTERROBANG?!?!
3) Alien’s fire-breath-thingy also seems to be fire-butt-thingy.
4) By removing Hal’s ring, did Batman realize that the fires all over Gotham aren’t being put out anymore.
5) Bonus: Hal Jordan’s ring constructs show a bit of imagination.
6) I get the feeling that the little boxy thingy that they pulled out of the wall is going to be a portal for Darkseid/Reverse Flash/anyone they want because its a plot loophole/Nekron to return and for Hal Jordan to get heroically whisked away into not-being-around-land.
7) I’m going to stencil “Hustle, Hit, Never Quit” on my wall.
8) Superman’s punch is strange to me. Its blue and red, so it must mean that he flew into Jordan. However, he is seen walking out of the building a second later, so it seems that he is being intentionally deceptive about his speed to hide how fast he is.
9) In the confrontation with Supes, Bruce is clearly in the middle of an open area, but in the last panels, behind him is seen building, and he’s looking at Superman who is framed by building. This new DC universe has Chia-like buildings “Just add superheroes, and watch them grow!”
10) Every individual character sketch but Superman’s has a better costume/look than the final that they went with.

Rating: 6/10 (There is potential here. Somewhere beneath the madness, there is potential)

Tomorrow, hopefully, I’ll post another bit about the books this week that I liked. Warning: there will be fawning over the ground that Warren Ellis treads.

What does this have to do with DOOM’s monthly polls? Absolutely nothing. So I guess we should probably start this thing now, huh?

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Last month you told us how you felt about the Green Lantern movie adaptation. In figures in the dozens you informed us that you were pretty much lazy and apathetic about the whole thing and never bothered to see the movie. We here at DOOM Towers salute you in your lethargy.

“I’m sorry but no-one likes you”

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This month it’s another simple question for simple minds. We love you really, but if you’re visiting here instead of all the other great websites online… we understand our readership.

Comic books for years have been dominated by “the big two”. Those two have been Marvel and DC. Comic geeks for years have been arguing who has the better roster of heroes. Now it’s time for you to decide.

PICK! … NOW!

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